Downton Abbey S.4 Ep-7

Well his Lordship has been summoned to America by his mother-in-law to help this mysterious Uncle Howard out of some bother or the other, so we had little to do with him this episode. Or was it the plot of the writers to rid us of Thomas and his one track scheming mind this week? Either way, his absence was hardly felt there was more than enough drama to see to that.

As his valet Bates should accompany his Lordship but in light of what happened to Anna he feels duty bound to stay behind, rightly so. Mrs Hughes steps in to ask Lady Mary’s help in convincing Lord Grantham to take someone else instead of Bates but she also has to divulge the reason why to her Ladyship. Mrs Hughes wins this episode and later on you’ll see why. Thomas is pleased to be going to America with his Lordship but he also knows something is amiss as to why its him and not Bates accompanying Lord Grantham on this trip. Jimmy is envious of Thomas’ luck and Mrs Patmore would rather not set foot in America thank you very much, because goodness knows steak and ketchup is hardly anything to set much store by. Dear Mrs Patmore if only you can see us in the 21st century about now…

Lady Edith is back to her old self; sour puss and woe is me, although this time its more for a reason than feeling like the ugly duckling of the family. She’s preggers, her lover is in the wind and now she is questioning whether or not she is a good person. Dark times for Edith. Whilst in London she makes appointment to have a termination but at the last minute she has a change of heart. Her aunt is all for keeping the baby because there has got to be a way to overcome the scandal and shame it will bring upon the family name. Aunt Rosmund takes a more romantic view; she has hope that Gregson will turn up with a full explanation for his silence, I very much doubt that, but she hopes he will return for her niece’s sake because apart from the dangers of termination which she is strongly against, in the long run, if there is an explanation to all this, she would rather Edith’s life were not based on a lie should Gregson return and still have her. Although there is that issue of whether Edith will be welcomed in her Salon with her charming bastard son.

Oh well, to be young is to be heart broken, as Mr Carson put it. But in Edith’s case, perpetually heartbroken. Poor dear.

Mrs Crawley is dragging Tom back into places he’s left behind, politics. oh dear…this makes me nervous because I rather like Branson, he’s grown on me and I like the way he is on hand to help Lady Mary with Downton business etc. Still, he must move on and find something worthwhile to do with his life otherwise he’ll become stalemate like some other characters… *ahem Thomas* I just don’t want the Branson pre-Sybil to emerge. But I understand that his story line has hit a plateau. And wouldn’t you know it, he meets a lady at the meeting…

Rose wants to go to London to meet up with her new found fella Jack Ross, the African American singer whose presence is supposed to shake things up this season. Is there really nothing more to Rose’ story than going to London, meeting up with “inappropriate” men and causing a stir? Seriously? This is all there is to her…No really it is and its incredibly BORING. Jack Ross is aware of her the whole situation with regards to their difference but Rose buries her head in the sand about it. So you can just about predict the drama that will ensue.

Lady Mary is getting her feathers ruffled by Charles Blake. He finds her aloof, he’s not too far from the truth Mary is expert at playing at being aloof when she really isn’t. I like their back and forth, the way she doesn’t let him have one over her every reason he finds he wants to. He sees a different side to her when she gets stuck in helping out her pigs instead of running back to the house to fetch help. Part of it might just be to prove something to him, but it still shows there is much more to her than just being waited on hands and foot. And then she makes him scrambled eggs in the dead of the night. Lady Mary I say, what a night of discovery indeed.

Oh dear the Dowager has taken ill and her BFF Mrs Crawley volunteers her services to stay by her bedside and nurse her back to health. What a very selfless thing to do. The Dowager thinks its a nurse that’s been at her bedside all this time but soon learns its been Mrs Crawley. These two provide a good puncture to the whole drama, good comedy and don’t they remind you of nosey grannies who bicker over everything but secretly love each other? The Dowager does not miss a beat with her liners though…not a beat.

“I want another nurse…this one talks too much, like a drunken vicar.”

Alfred pops back in for a visit to his old pals. He is doing well in London but Mrs Patmore is a bit skeptical about the praise from the french chap who has taken to Alfred’s skill. lol. As usual with Alfred’s appearance comes a revision of the old love war between Daisy and Ivy…Oy vey these two or three are just so tedious. Daisy has her claws out to Ivy because she broke his heart throwing herself at Jimmy all this time and Alfred is chuffed the lovely Ivy is warming up to him, heck he would have never left if he knew this to begin with. Daisy just wants to bite Ivy’s head off. Its all very high school mean girls. And its very tired now. Very.

Lord Gillingham returns with Mr Green his footman, the rapist bastard who attacked Anna. Mrs Hughes steps up to him and lets him know she knows what he did. The son of a bitch is smug, too smug and I for one hope Mr Bates gives him what is coming to him. That look at the breakfast table alone sent shivers because Bates knows it was Mr Green who did that to his wife and now Baxter is putting two and two together…what will she do with this information? What will Tom do with this information if she feeds it to him? What will happen when Bates gets his hand on Green? What will happen to Green?

What about Jack Ross? Is he to play a pun in Rose’s whiles? Is this all there is to his character?

And Edith what is wrong with living in Maida Vale?!!